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WHAT WAS THE PLACE OF ISSUE OF THE DHAULI... EDICTS ?
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edicts were not issued from the capital in the east and hence were not originally drafted in the dialect which for instance, was used in the drafting of the other major edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada; they were perhaps issued from a different place and in a different dialect and were translated into the eastern dialect at the time of their recording on the rocks at Dhauli and Jaugada. Though these translations were more or less accurate, there remained certain forms which appeared in the original draft, but should not have figured in the translations. The following analysis will further show that these exceptional forms show affinity with the north-western language of the Asokan inscriptions, thus pointing towards that area as the most probable source of the issue of these two separate edicts.
.. 1. Softening of -- and -C--The D and J (in the following analysis.D and J stand for the other major edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada, while d and j stand for the separate edicts at these two places) versions preserve -k- and -c-. The separate edicts no doubt preserve these surds, but in stray cases they even soften them to -g- and .;-. Sk. loka-> loga- j (logika- cf. MS. I 5), Sk. acala-> ajalad. All other versions show loka-. Now it is true that -k- and -c- are not soften. ed in the north-western versions of Asoka's edicts; but that seems to be due to the strict following of the eastern dialect. What is interesting to observe, however, is that a tendency towards softening can be discerned in other instances in the north-western and the northern regions in the days of Asoka. Thus. Sk, vātikā. > .vadika- Kausambi Queen's edict, -vadikya- Topra; Sk. hita-> hidaShāhbáz, Mānsehrā, Kālsi.; Sk. yātra- > -yadra-Mansehrā; Sk. lipi. > libiTopră..
The forms loga- and ajala. in j and d, therefore, seem to be due to the borrowings from the north-western dialect and do not reflect the local tendency in the east in the days of Asoka.
2. The next point that deserves our attention is the treatment of cerebral ņ in the Major Asokan edicts. As is well-known, the D and J versions substitute n by n throughout, and there is no exception to this substitution in the versions of the major edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada. The separate edicts alone, however, though they generally make this substitution as in the eastern dialect, give us four instances where ņ (obviously as a loan from the original draft) appears. The instances are khana., nijhapetaviye, palaloki ( kena ), and savenā.
Now as against the n > n treatment noted in the east, the western and north-western versions of Asokan inscriptions preserve n.
3. Equally interesting to note is the treatment of the cluster jn. This cluster is represented by palatal n in the west and north-west, but by dental » in the east. Now, of the versions at Dhauli and Jaugada, whereas the major
Madhu Vidya/242
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